When you have too many options for doing something, it usually means that you will end up being counterproductive.

This truth is with very many things. For instance, being a basketball player, I noticed (and not just me) that not many people go out to go play at the parks anymore to get their hard-core pick up fix in. I am from the Metro-Detroit area and I used to play basketball all the time outside with my friends. There used to be 40-50 people at the park waiting in line to get a good game. Nowadays you’re lucky if you get 10 people to show up for a five on five games. My theory: the Internet has killed pickup sports – at least where I am from.

The Internet gives us way too many options with what to do with our day. It is unlikely for a lot of kids these days, to go a day without being on the Internet – and Facebook for that matter, and because of that, their minds are constantly occupied and satisfied with staying at home. However the power of the Internet allows so many options for people and it perhaps makes them counterproductive at times.

The same goes for a website. This is especially true when you are creating affiliate websites where people want to know what the “Best of something” is. For example: “Best Acne Products” or “Best Credit Cards.”

People do not want to have to sort through all of the junk to get the information they are looking for. They want it all to be readily available and they want to be able to take action steps once they get it.

A study that was brought to attention by the New York Times claimed that having to many choices can be paralyzing. It talks about a famous study where people shopping at a grocery store were more likely to buy jam when there options were limited to 6 rather than when they 24 different options. There is much to learn about this study when it comes to websites.

Did you know that the reason why Google was a simple white page with a search bar was because the founders of it were not experienced in HTML and CSS? It probably worked out to their benefit, as it beat out sites like Yahoo and turned into the world’s largest search engine. Visitors came to the site to do one thing and one thing only: search. They were definitely not overloaded with options. This is the perfect scenario example for not confusing visitors with too many options.

Because if there are too many options, then people will not be able to wrap their head around your web site in a short amount of time. And since you should try to be as “instant” as possible (especially in today’s world), your visitors will probably increase that thing called bounce rate if you leave your website something of a humungous mess of choices.

If you are running an affiliate website, this is especially true. Instead of giving them 20 different options where, they have to choose after reading a bunch of information, just list perhaps the top 3 products/companies – or whatever it is that you are referring.

People do not want to have to do the research. That is why they go to the Internet. And as an Internet marketer – it is your job to give them what they want!

Author Bio: This article was written by Philip Russell. Philip helps to run and maintain inetzeal.com. This website is an entity of an Internet marketing company which provides many services, which includes white label link building services, as well as many other white label SEO.